Rick Santorum announced tonight that he intends to compete in Florida and beyond after his third place showing in South Carolina.
As I write, Santorum is currently winning 18 percent of the vote in South Carolina — which is good for a comfortable third place showing over Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex. He had to at least beat Paul to be able to justify continuing.
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In his speech and again during a post-debate interview on Fox, Santorum emphasized that he, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have each won one of the first three states to vote. The challenge for Santorum is that with Gingrich having a stunning victory (at 41 percent as I write) and having all the momentum heading into Iowa, he’s in strong position to claim the space of the conservative alternative to Romney.
Santorum has argued that he’s the most consistent conservative remaining in the race. Without much money or organization to compete in the large state of Flordia, Santorum will have to depend on the two debates next week (on Monday and Thursday) to make his case.
